Photo Credit: Jeffrey Reed (CC-By-SA 3.0)
(Liberty Counsel) Friday, in a fetal-homicide case decided by the Alabama Supreme Court, Justice Tom Parker urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Roe v. Wade abortion decision as it is a “constitutional aberration” that hinders ‘the states’ ability to protect the God-given respect and dignity of unborn human life.”
In Jessie Phillips v. State of Alabama, the Alabama Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the death penalty sentence for Jessie Phillips, a man convicted of capital murder for killing his wife and their unborn child, Baby Doe. Phillips had argued that he should not get the death penalty for killing his unborn child because he said the child was not a “person” under Alabama law. The Court rejected Phillips’ arguments and held that, under Alabama law, Baby Doe was a full “person” and that “the value of the life of an unborn child is no less than the value of the lives of other persons.”
Referring to the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court abortion decision in Roe v. Wade, Justice Parker in his special concurrence wrote, “I urge the United States Supreme Court to overrule this increasingly isolated exception to the rights of unborn children.”
Justice Parker wrote separately to emphasize how broadly and consistently the law and judicial decisions in Alabama and around the country protect the rights of unborn children. This, Justice Parker said, contrasts with “the continued legal anomaly and logical fallacy that is Roe v. Wade.”
In his opinion, Justice Parker calls on the Supreme Court to act: “It is my hope and prayer that the United States Supreme Court will take note of the crescendoing chorus of the laws of the states in which unborn children are given full legal protection and allow the states to recognize and defend the inalienable right to life possessed by every unborn child, even when that right must trump the ‘right’ of a woman to obtain an abortion.” By ensuring broad legal protections for unborn children, including under Alabama’s capital murder statutes, Justice Parker writes that “we affirm once again that unborn children are persons with value and dignity equal to that of all persons.”
“The Roe exception is the last remaining obstacle to the states’ ability to protect the God-given respect and dignity of unborn human life. I urge the Supreme Court of the United States to reconsider the Roe exception and to overrule this constitutional aberration. Return the power to the states to fully protect the most vulnerable among us,” wrote Parker.
Recently, the federal Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit similarly criticized the U.S. Supreme Court’s abortion decisions. On August 22, 2018, in West Alabama Women’s Center v. Williamson, the federal appeals court began its decision with these words: “Some Supreme Court Justices have been of the view that there is constitutional law and then there is the aberration of constitutional law relating to
abortion.” In that case, federal Judge Dubina, also wrote separately to emphasize that the U.S. Supreme Court’s “abortion jurisprudence … has no basis in the Constitution.”
“There is a growing chorus of voices urging the Supreme Court to overrule its abortion decisions,” said Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver. “The Supreme Court has created a constitutional aberration and caused incalculable harm by its abortion decisions. In 1992, Justice Kennedy voted with the majority to overrule Roe v. Wade, and then flipped his vote 30 days before the opinion was released to uphold Roe. It is time to correct course and overrule this horrible chapter in American and Supreme Court history,” said Staver.
“We applaud Justice Tom Parker in calling on the Supreme Court to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision and once again protect precious children, women, and families. Abortion is simply a euphemism created by activists to soften what it really is: the murder of innocent unborn children. We must stop this human genocide. We must demand that the Supreme Court undo the horrendous ruling and make the womb a safe place again in America. As we hear about the horrible descriptions of the dismemberment of Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi, every breathing person naturally shutters. Yet, every day in America, helpless, preborn children are dismembered while they are still alive. We too must shutter at this horrible act and stop it,” concluded Staver.
Liberty Counsel represented Justice Parker when an Alabama federal district court entered a permanent injunction in his favor and against the Judicial Inquiry Commission barring the use of judicial ethics canons to censor judges’ public comments. The JIC has been ordered to pay $100,000.00 compensation to Liberty Counsel for legal fees.
Justice Parker is currently an Associate Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and is running for the position of Chief Justice. Parker won the primary election on June 5, 2018.